Medal of Honor Recipient To Be Honored

[Procrustes Stretched]

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin

Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray

Mr. Ragaei Abdelfattah

Army Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy

two American soldiers, an airman and a USAID worker


Incredible: Our President, President Barrack Obama will be awarding Groberg the Medal of Honor on Nov 12. He will be the 10th living recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive the medal.

Groberg was badly wounded–his fibula had torn through his left leg and his flesh was melting to his uniform.

Groberg’s actions are credited for disrupting the two suicide attack and saving countless lives that day, and on Nov 12. President Barrack Obama will award Groberg the Medal of Honor. He will be the 10th living recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive the medal.

...

“It was the worst day of my life because even though we defeated the enemy I lost four of my brothers,” Groberg said. “This medal is not about me, it’s about the four individuals that I lost. It’s about them, it’s about their families, it’s about true heroes that sacrificed everything for their country.

Groberg, now 32, was originally born in France and became a U.S. citizen in 2001.

This Army captain will get the Medal of Honor for tackling an Afghan suicide bomber​

 

[waltky]

Medal of Honor marine gets ship named after him...

Navy Naming Ship after West Virginia Medal of Honor Marine
Oct 21, 2015 | WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Navy has announced it will name a ship after Hershel "Woody" Williams, a West Virginia World War II veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

Multiple media outlets report that the Navy made the announcement Tuesday, months after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., wrote a letter urging them to name a ship after Williams.

Hershel “Woody” Williams greets people from Gainesville, Texas, during the Medal of Honor Parade​

Williams says that the ship in question will be an expeditionary sea base. U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus called Williams Tuesday morning to tell him the news.

Williams was born near Fairmont, W.Va. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. He earned the Medal of Honor in 1945 for his actions in the Battle of Iwo Jima, as well as a Purple Heart.

Navy Naming Ship after West Virginia Medal of Honor Marine | Military.com

 

[waltky]

Medal awards to be reviewed for upgrade to Medal of Honor...

Pentagon to Review 1,100 Awards for Possible Upgrade to Medal of Honor
Jan 06, 2016 | The Defense Department will review some 1,100 Silver Stars and Service Crosses to determine if they warrant a higher award such as the Medal of Honor, officials announced Wednesday.

The decision follows a review of the entire military awards process begun by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in 2014, and comes alongside a series of other changes designed to make the system more consistent in its treatment of awards. Speaking under the condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, officials explained that the review was prompted in part by curious trends in the award of Medals of Honor for actions following Sept. 11, 2001.

The first seven medals after that date were all posthumously awarded, prompting the Defense Department to issue clarifying guidance in 2010 informing commanders that award criteria for the distinction included "risk of life," but did not require loss of life. Since 2010, all ten Medal of Honor recipients have been living. In another trend, officials said, three of the seven most recent Medals of Honor were actually upgrades from lesser award recommendations, while none of the earlier ones were. "Trends showed an increased willingness of commanders to upgrade recommendations submitted from subordinate commands as the wars progressed," officials said in a statement to Military.com.

2017 Deadline

The secretaries from each military service have until Sept. 30, 2017, to review the next-highest awards to the Medal of Honor -- about 1,000 Silver Stars and nearly 100 service crosses -- to determine if they warrant higher awards. Those determinations are due to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Officials said it's up to the individual services to determine how to conduct that review. Moving forward, the Pentagon is implementing changes to ensure that Medal of Honor and other valor medal recommendations are submitted and reviewed in a timely manner. Nominations for valor awards must now be initiated within 45 days of the valorous action and must be processed up the chain of command and reach the defense secretary within a year of the initial recommendation.

All awards apart from the Medal of Honor must be made within a year of the initial nomination. To ensure that medal nominations do not get lost, the first general or admiral endorsing a Medal of Honor nomination will notify the applicable service's decorations and awards branch. In another change, the appropriate geographic combatant commander will now review Medal of Honor nominations after a service secretary has made the recommendation so as better to advise the defense secretary and the president. These changes are motivated in part by the case of then-Army Capt. William Swenson, who received the Medal of Honor in 2013 after bravery during the Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan in 2009. The 19-month delay in his award was due in part to lost awards paperwork, prompting a public apology from Hagel.

New Devices

 

[waltky]

Navy SEAL to Receive Medal of Honor...

Navy SEAL to Receive Medal of Honor Credits Fallen Comrade in Video
Feb 26, 2016 | The U.S. Navy on Friday released a video interview with the Navy SEAL set to receive the Medal of Honor next week at the White House.

In the video, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers, a native of Toledo, Ohio, discusses the December 2012 mission to rescue Dr. Dilip Joseph, an American who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban only days earlier.

Byers, 36, will be the 11th living service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan when President Barack Obama presents him with the award on Feb. 29.

The SEALs were successful in rescuing Joseph, a medical director with a nonprofit organization training Afghan healthcare workers, but one team member, Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Cheque, was killed during the operation.

In the interview, Byers said Cheque was the point man as they headed toward the building where Joseph was being held. It was a night mission and the SEALs were wearing night-vision goggles.

Navy SEAL to Receive Medal of Honor Credits Fallen Comrade in Video | Military.com

 

[Mr. H.]

My stepson returned from his second tour in Afghanistan with a Bronze Star.

Believe me, he earned it.

Bless them critters, one and all.

 

[waltky]

Rescues without the proper equipment...

Navy SEAL Details Harrowing Mission to Rescue Hostage in Afghanistan
Feb 27, 2016 | Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers is just looking forward to getting back to work.

On Monday, the 36-year-old SEAL will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, for his role in the daring 2012 hostage rescue of an American aid worker, Dr. Dilip Joseph, in Afghanistan. But don't expect him to rest on those laurels. In a Feb. 25 interview with Military.com, Byers said he has no intention of drawing his 17-year military career to a close, and may choose to stay on in the special warfare community even after he reaches the 20-year retirement threshold in 2018. "As long as I continue to enjoy my job, I'm going to continue doing it," he said. "I love my job now; it's the greatest job in the world." Byers spoke publicly this month for the first time about the events that earned him the Medal of Honor. Until recently, even the language on his award citation had been withheld from public release.

A member of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six, Byers was about two months into a deployment to eastern Afghanistan when his team received their rescue mission. Joseph, the medical director of the nonprofit organization Morning Star Development, had been kidnapped along with his driver and Afghan interpreter by Taliban-affiliated forces Dec. 5, 2012. On Dec. 8, Byers' team was sent to a remote compound in the Qarghah'i district of Laghman province, where intelligence showed Joseph was being held. The team reached the building late at night, after a four-hour march to the mountainous location on primitive footpaths.

Going into the mission, Byers and his teammates knew the stakes were high. "Success of the rescue operation relied upon surprise, speed, and aggressive action," Byers' summary of action states. "Trading personal security for speed of action was inherent to the success of this rescue mission. Each assaulter in the rescue force volunteered for this operation with full appreciation for the risks they were to undertake." As the team got within 25 meters of the compound, a sentry at the door was alerted to their presence. The first member of the team, Petty Officer First Class Nicolas Checque, shot at the guard and ran towards the door of the compound. He fell wounded by an AK-47 round to the head as he charged into the building.

Byers was the second man inside the building, sprinting in on Checque's heels. "There were some blankets hanging up; it wasn't like a typical door, so you couldn't just open the door and walk in," Byers recalled. "When I finally [made my way through the blankets], down my area of responsibility there was an enemy that I engaged with and then I saw another person that was moving across the floor. I didn't know whether or not that person was [the hostage] or if it was just an enemy coming to and trying to get some weapons, so by the time I got to him, I was able to get on top of him, straddle him, pin him down with my legs."

Locked in hand-to-hand combat with the unknown man underneath him, Byers managed to subdue him with one hand and use the other to adjust the focus of his night-vision goggles. Having done so, he saw that the man was one of the captors and engaged him with his weapon. "At the same time, we're calling out, trying to find the location of the American hostage," Byers said. Joseph called out, alerting the SEALs to his presence, three to five feet away from where Byers had grappled with the guard. Byers immediately tackled the captive American, using his own body and body armor to shield him from the fighting. From this position, Byers noticed another man close by. "It ended up being an enemy who had grenades and a weapon on him within arms' reach," Byers said. "And I was able to pin him to the wall by his throat until our team was able to come in and take care of that threat." The entire raid was over in a matter of minutes.

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See also:

Lacking Basic Gear, Special Operators Stuck Buying Their Own Equipment
Feb 26, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- Sean Matson, who recently left active duty as a Navy SEAL, said the military measured his head four times -- each time before deployment -- with plans to provide him a more advanced ballistic helmet.

But the new helmet never materialized. During a deployment in Africa, Matson and six of his fellow SEALs each shelled out about $900 for updated helmets that held the lights, communications devices and batteries needed for their missions. "There was never a clear solution to it, so guys were going out spending $800-$900 on their own ballistic helmet," said Matson, who is now CEO of the military supply company Matbock. Elite troops such as the SEALs are more and more forced to dip into their own pockets to purchase basic military gear such as helmets, global positioning devices and medical supplies, according to Matson and others involved in the military's unofficial civilian-side supply network who came to Capitol Hill on Thursday.

A U.S. Special Operations Forces member prepares his gear for an evening mission in western Iraq.​

House lawmakers have taken notice and said they will request an explanation from Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "These are the guys we assume have the best gear all the time," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, a Marine Corps combat veteran. Hunter said special operations troops have been approaching him in his California district complaining about the inability to get needed materials and he has been investigating the issue. Numerous individual instances point to a systemic problem in the military's supply chain, but a blind spot exists between Defense Department vendors and the troops who need the gear and supplies, Hunter said. "It's been impossible for me to find out how the money is getting stopped and why it is not going down to where it's supposed to be," he said.

Aaron Negherbon is the executive director of the nonprofit group Troops Direct, which ships needed and requested supplies -- from boot laces to tablet devices -- to service members who cannot get it through their commands. Less than two days after the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, Negherbon said he was contacted by the commander of a Marine Corps Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team that was being deployed there. The commander told him the team lacked a variety of crucial equipment, including sniper supplies, he said. "They came to us for ... batteries because they didn't have any of those. ... It is kind of like, 'What the heck is going on?' " Negherbon said. He said troops often have to buy their own medical equipment such as tourniquets, and shell out about $1,000 each for their own helmets or $500 for a GPS device that they need for duty during a deployment. "The question is, why can't you get this?" Negherbon said.

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[waltky]

Chopper pilot finally gets his just honor...

Vietnam Vet Awarded Medal of Honor for Heroic Helicopter Rescue
Jul 18, 2016 | President Barack Obama awarded America's highest military honor for valor today to a U.S. Army veteran for risking his life to save the lives of 44 fellow American soldiers a half century ago on a Vietnamese battlefield.

During a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, Obama told the story of retired Lt. Col. Charles Kettles, who was serving as a flight commander assigned to 176th Aviation Company (Airmobile) (Light), 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, Americal Division, when a battalion-sized enemy force ambushed an outnumbered element of 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, near Duc Pho. Kettles, then a major, led a platoon of UH-1D Huey helicopters again and again into intense enemy fire to help his fellow soldiers. Now 86, Kettles sat looking "sharp as a tack," Obama said, describing his dress blue uniform. Many of his fellow veterans have said that there is no one who deserves the Medal of Honor more than Kettles, Obama said. "Many believe that, except for Chuck," Obama said. "As he says, 'This seems like a hell of a fuss over something happened 50 years ago.' Even now, Chuck is still defined by the humility that shaped him as a soldier." But there are at least 44 former American soldiers who would disagree with Kettles' modest description of his actions on that battlefield. Obama gave the following account of the Kettles' bravery:

"May 15, 1967, started as a hot Monday morning. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne were battling hundreds of North Vietnamese in a rural riverbed. Our men were outnumbered. They needed support fast -- helicopters to get the wounded out and get more soldiers into the fight. "Chuck Kettles was a helo pilot and, just as he had volunteered for active duty, on this morning he volunteered his Hueys even though he knew the danger. "They call this place 'chump valley' for a reason. Above the riverbed rose a 1,500-foot tall hill. And the enemy was dug into an extensive series of tunnels and bunkers -- the ideal spot for an ambush. "Around 9 a.m., his company of Hueys approached that landing zone and looked down. They should have seen a stand of green trees. Instead, they saw a solid wall of green enemy tracers coming right at them. None of them had ever seen fire that intense. "Soldiers in the helos were hit and killed before they could leap off. But under withering fire, Chuck landed his chopper and kept it there exposed so the wounded could get on and so that he could fly them back to base.

President Obama presents the Medal of Honor to retired Army Lt. Col. Charles Kettles during a ceremony at the White House in Washington​

"A second time, Chuck went back into the valley. He dropped off more soldiers and supplies; picked up more wounded. Once more, machine gun bullets and mortar rounds came screaming after them. As he took off a second time, rounds pierced the arm and leg of Chuck's door gunner, Roland Scheck. "Chuck's Huey was hit. Fuel was pouring out as he flew away. He landed, found another helicopter and flew Roland to the field hospital. "By now, it was near evening. Back at the riverbed, 44 American soldiers were still pinned down. The air was thick with gunpowder and smelled of burning metal. "And then they heard a faint sound. And as the sun started to set, they saw something rise over the horizon -- six American helicopters, as one of them said, 'as beautiful as could be.' "For a third time, Chuck and his unit headed into that Hell on Earth.

"Once again, the enemy unloaded everything they had on Chuck as he landed -- small arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades. Soldiers ran to the helicopters. When Chuck was told all were accounted for, he took off. "And then mid-air, his radio told him something else. Eight men had not made it aboard. They had been providing cover for the others. Those eight soldiers ran for the choppers but could only watch as they floated away. " 'We all figured we were done for,' they said. Chuck came to the same conclusion. 'If we left them for 10 minutes,' he said, 'they'd be POWs or dead.' "A soldier who was there said, 'That day, Maj. Kettles became our John Wayne.' "With all due respect to John Wayne," Obama said. "He couldn't do what Chuck Kettles did. "He broke off from formation, took a steep, sharp, descending turn back toward the valley -- this time with no aerial or artillery support.

"Chuck's Huey was the only target for the enemy to attack, and they did. Tracers lit up the sky once more. Chuck came in so hot his chopper bounced for several hundred feet before coming to a stop. "As soon as he landed, a mortar round shattered his windshield; another hit the main rotor blade. Shrapnel tore through the cockpit and Chuck's chair. "Those eight soldiers sprinted toward the Huey, running through the firestorm, chased by bullets. "Chuck's helo, now badly damaged, was carrying 13 souls and was 600 pounds overweight. 'It felt,' he said, 'like flying a two and a half ton truck.' "He couldn't hover long enough to take off. … The cabin filled with black smoke as Chuck skipped and hopped the helo across the ground to pick up enough speed to take off. "The instant he got airborne, another mortar ripped into the tail. The Huey fishtailed violently and a soldier was thrown out of the helicopter and was hanging onto a skid as Chuck flew them to safety."

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[Claudette]

Hero's one and all.